Look for the "real" pilots, young or old. The aviators with the passion and the "one with the airplane" skills. Reward them realistically. Pay them well and guarantee a minimum number of tows each day as part of their job description. Make sure they are fully hydrated and properly nourished. Fatigue and boredom can be a problem. Praise them for a good tow and for their safe flying. Buy dinner for the pilots who clean the bugs off the wings and prop, for those pilots are the ones who understand aerodynamics. Dessert if they clean the fuselage belly every day.

I grew up on my father's gliderport in Florida with Cubs as towplanes.
I became very proficient in tailwheel airplanes and I have not groundlooped or nosed over YET.

So when I had my glider operation in Miami and now in Marfa, Texas, and since I am rarely flying the towplane, I chose tricycle gear towplanes, "straight tail" '58 / '59 Cessna 182's and a Cessna 150 with a 180 HP Lycoming (and a "climb" pitch prop.) They tow well and are cheaper to purchase, to maintain and the replacement parts are plentiful. Insurance is less expensive and I have a large pool of potential towpilots. Tricycle gear towplanes are generally safer and less expensive to operate and I'm more comfortable with those priorities than a few more feet of rate of climb in a Cub, Husky or Pawnee.

Tricycle gear towplanes can better handle the crosswind gusts and dustdevils we endure out west (obviously good soaring days!) They can handle grass runways if not too rough. (If it is rough, roll it or grade it and make it smooth.)

Towing sailplanes with tailwheel or tricycle gear towplanes is very risky business and is only as safe as the towpilot and the sailplane pilot make it..
Pilot proficiency (not just currency) on both ends of the towrope is essential.

Regarding checkouts, I find some potential towpilots who look outside only 50% of the time. These tend to be younger pilots who are looking down at the instruments. If they don't modify their behavior they do not receive an endorsement from me, even if they learned to fly at Embry-Riddle or have 20,000 hours flying jets. If they do not exhibit basic situational awareness or cannot fly coordinated, I'm simply not impressed with their logbook or their expensive degree in "aeronautics." Isn't "Stick and Rudder" by Wolfgang Langewiesche or Richard Bach's short story "A School For Perfection" required reading at those schools?

On initial towpilot checkouts or recurrency endorsement flights, some don't realize that you control towing airspeed by holding a steady pitch of the nose rather than chasing the airspeed indicator and few bother to clear their turns. Many cannot accomplish the wing-rock and rudder waggle signals and few have bothered to study the signals at all, thinking that a radio call will be sufficient. Some are not familiar with the FAR 61.69 mandatory 24 month recurrency requirements. Some are bored, hungry and thirsty because we often treat towpliots like ski lift operators . . . just get me up there. Many do not comply with the VFR 30 minute fuel requirement for airplanes. There are more unreported towplane fuel starvation incidents than you can imagine (most glide safely back to the airport, if high enough.)

As club managers, think about what's really involved in cultivating safe towpilots.

Towpilot intital endorsement requirements per FAR 61.69 (along with 24 month recurrency endorsements) are simple but unrealistic. Demand recurrent training beyond the minimums to proficiency and do not tolerate aggressive diving of the towplane after the glider releases. (That's hard on the towplane and has proven fatal to those aircraft below the release altitude.) Yes, I have fired "rogue" towpliots who dove my towplanes aggressively and I lost money when I cancelled flying for the day.

I make decisions based primarily on safety. Convenience, "fun", the pursuit of the dollar are lower priorities. Safety is a long-term commitment to a thoughtful culture. A "safety stand-down" is a realistic option in aviation.

Tricycle gear or tailwheel towplane or winch . . . demand proficiency and never say it's a "piece of cake."

Burt Compton
47 years since solo and still alive.

Author of "The Towpilot Manual"
available at www.bobwander.com

Marfa Gliders Soaring Center, west Texas
USA